Which to use
“décence” and “démence” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,722
- “décence” frequency rank
- #18,183
- “démence” frequency rank
- 36905
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | décence | démence |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bienséance, ce qui est décent. | Aliénation mentale chronique, acquise et évolutive, dont l'étiologie est diverse. |
Where the eye mixes décence and démence
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. décence and démence follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: décence vs démence
A purely visual mix-up. décence (\de.sɑ̃s\) and démence (\de.mɑ̃s\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - c in “décence” becomes m in “démence”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36905, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
décence is recorded at frequency rank #18,722, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.sɑ̃s\. démence is at rank #18,183, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.mɑ̃s\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 36905, this pair ranks #266,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of décence vs démence
Shared letters: cdené. Private to "décence": -. Private to "démence": m.
"décence" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "démence" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "décence" and "démence" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "décence" or "démence" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "décence" and "démence" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "décence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "démence" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #266,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "décence" and "démence" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "décence vs décents". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #266,275 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.